The Selwyn Centre for Aging and Spirituality
Quest for A Spiritual Dimension to Aged Care
The Selwyn Foundation has established The Selwyn Centre for Aging and Spirituality (SCAS) as New Zealand’s voice for the spiritual needs of older people as they near their life’s end.
The Selwyn Foundation is a charitable, Christian organisation but its outreach is to a diversity of faiths, and it embraces a broad meaning of ‘spiritual care’. Spiritual experience is seen as anything that brings to the individual a sense of awe and wonder, and a deeper sense of meaning in life.
SCAS has been set up to lead education, research and advocacy in any areas of need related to aging and spirituality in New Zealand. It is modeled on similar organisations in Australia, the UK and the USA, yet it contains a strong Aotearoa-New Zealand reference.
SCAS is a component of the Selwyn Foundation mission to serve the elderly through the ‘Selwyn Way’ – Faith, Care, Independence and Wellness.
Beyond the Medical Model - Transformational Spiritual Care
As people move towards the end of life, they frequently seek to bring deeper meaning to their lives. Their spiritual needs intensify.
Older people may wish to examine relationships – with others, with God, with nature, with the arts. Many look to find connections; to bring sense and satisfaction for a life lived, however they have lived it - to explore their own sense of being.
New Zealand’s medical model of care for the aged pays insufficient attention to spiritual or holistic wellbeing of the aging population in New Zealand. While te taha wairua (spiritual health) is identified as a foundation for holistic care for Maori, it still needs more consideration and execution. Plus, there is a need to consider the faith based needs of other cultures, as well as the traditional European one, as these people age. These are all issues SCAS has been established to address.
Three Key Areas of Focus
- Education
- Research
- Advocacy
Education
Through SCAS The Selwyn Foundation facilitates the provision of professional development programmes to aged care workers and others interested in this area, to enhance and deepen their understanding of spiritual issues for older people.
Courses are provided through partnerships with St John’s Theological College (Auckland), St Mark’s National Theological Centre (Canberra, Australia) and Charles Sturt University (Canberra). All courses are offered through distance learning.
All educational programmes are open to people in New Zealand, through SCAS
Research
SCAS commissions research designed to deliver key new information related to aging and spirituality to the parent organisation – The Selwyn Foundation.
The research helps support decision making in aged care, and also influences the advocacy and education streams of the SCAS activities. SCAS also widely shares pertinent research outcomes with other organisations involved in aged care.
Research project bids are invited from individuals in SCAS’s partner organisations.
Advocacy
SCAS has a mission to influence government, local government, and policy-makers – by advocating the needs of older New Zealanders in relation to spirituality and aging.
SCAS has partnerships with groups and individuals with interests in the aged care sector. Collectively, these organisations build greater understanding of, and support for, the elderly.
 | Last updated on: 13 Aug 2008 || File size: 1728 Kb || Acrobat Reader Required. |
You can contact the Selwyn Centre for Aging and Spirituality (SCAS) at:
The Selwyn Foundation Group
P O B 44 106
Pt Chevalier
Auckland
Ph: 09 846 0119
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